Step by Step: Purchasing and Installing a New Roof

Installing a new roof is not as hard as you might think. Here’s GoTo Roofing’s step-by-step process:

Call GoTo Roofing for a free roof replacement estimate.Scott or Mario will schedule an appointment to meet you at your home.

First Meeting.Scott or Mario assesses your needs and offers options based on your answers to several key questions. They show you sample shingles, and provide professional advice on quality, aesthetics, and cost. Our contracts are in plain English, not legal jargon, so once you make your material and color choices, the purchase process is simple and quick.

Schedule the Work Date.After you sign the contract, we obtain the necessary building permits. (Since GoTo Roofing is a licensed builder, everything is in our name, not a subcontractor’s.) Then, with an eye to weather forecasts, we schedule the work date with you. We also schedule any inspections required by your local municipality.

The Big Day.

We arrive around 7:30 a.m. and introduce you to our crew leaders. We ask you to keep your driveway clear for the day to facilitate delivery and removal of materials.

Removal of the old roof usually takes a couple of hours. We inspect the wood decking underneath, replacing any that has rotted.

Next we apply several items to protect against future water damage:

Premium metal “drip edge” at the bottom and side edges of the roof to protect against water “wicking” back up under shingles at the edge of the roof (required by Michigan building code).

Ice and water protection strips. Though you obviously can’t prevent ice formation in Michigan, these strips are an additional defense against damage to the wood deck beneath the shingles.

Higher up the roof, we cover the wood decking with waterproof sheets (also required by Michigan building code).

The new shingles arrive by mid-morning. While part of the crew installs the shingles, other crew members install vents and flashing around vents and chimneys.

Most jobs are completed by the end of the day, including cleaning of debris from the roof and gutters, and removal of all trash from the yard.

Before we leave, we tour the property with you, answer any questions, and provide a final invoice and customer survey.

Follow-up Inspections.

A few municipalities inspect roof replacements the same day they’re done; most come later. These are visual inspections from the ground, and don’t require you to be home.

GoTo Roofing performs our own follow-up, visual inspection within a few weeks, once the roof has had a chance to do “settle.” (A roof never lays flat the day it’s put on. It takes a couple of weeks of 70° weather for it to really seal and lay flat.) Again, you won’t need to be home for this inspection.

That’s it: quick, clean, and efficient! At the end of the day, you will have a roof to last and service to remember.